Wellard is pleased to announce purchase of Clonlee, a farm in Condah, Western Victoria, where it will develop a Pre Export Quarantine facility to service live cattle exports, largely to China as the commencement of the slaughter/feeder live cattle trade to this important market nears.

Located just 60 kilometres to the north of the Portland live export port, the 340 hectare (850 acre) property will become Wellard’s base to secure and induct beef and dairy cattle from throughout Victoria, South Australia and southern NSW to meet China’s stringent quarantine access requirements, as well as other markets.

Wellard General Manager – China Bernie Brosnan said that in addition to the land purchase, Wellard would also invest in infrastructure on the property so it could be developed into a modern and efficient Pre Export Quarantine facility. The infrastructure investment will be staged to reflect the level of Chinese export activity.

“Development of Clonlee into a Pre Export Quarantine facility will complement existing facilities in Victoria’s South West so that we can meet China strict quarantine protocols while delivering the number of cattle our customers plan to acquire,” Mr Brosnan said.

Chinese import requirements include a seven-day quarantine period in Australia for slaughter cattle being shipped to northern China and an ‘all-in all-out’ requirement which prevents the co-sharing of the facility with other consignments.

Wellard plans to start exporting slaughter cattle to China in between March and June this year. The first shipments are expected to involve about 3000 cattle, weighing in excess of 500 kilograms.

In time that would increase to shipments of more than 4000 head, and up to 16,000 head when feeder cattle started to be introduced into the trade.

Wellard Chief Operating Officer Brad Gosling said: “The economic development that the Australian Government has created for the beef industry through the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement and Health protocol for slaughter cattle with China will benefit cattle producers for decades, and was integral to Wellard’s investment in Victoria.”

Wellard is Australia’s largest cattle exporter and a vertically integrated agribusiness.

Wellard has supplied quality dairy and beef cattle and sheep and goats to the world for more than 30 years. Based in Fremantle, Western Australia, the company’s operations spans the world and cover every aspect of the livestock export chain, including livestock selection and aggregation, pre export quarantine facilities, feed milling, and a modern fleet of specialized “floating farms livestock carriers”.

Wellard’s is also involved in meat trade and owns and operate a modern abattoir in Western Australia, Beaufort River Meats, which processes up to 2500 sheep and lambs a day, enabling Wellard to meet customer demand for both livestock and chilled meat.